Sea Fish Consumption is Associated with Lower Risk of Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The present study aimed to highlight the fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels among Sea Fish-Eaters (SFE) and Freshwater Fish-Eaters (FWFE) to establish the percentage of the existence of T2DM. The study was carried out among the sea fish-eaters both male and female (n=124) belonging to the community of Ramnagar block, Purba Medinipur district, and fresh water fish eaters (n=124) belonging to the community of Kotulpur block, Bankura district West Bengal, India. We collected data by directly interacting with the locals regarding the type of fish consumption for one week and correlated this with their fasting and postprandial blood glucose level measured using a glucometer. Among the SFE and FWFE participants the mean age of male and female is respectively 48.27±1.26 (n=30, 24.4%), 47.68±1.09 (n=40, 32.5%) and 56.09±1.23 (n=94, 94%), 52.33±1.06 (n=84, 67.5%).The mean fasting blood glucose level among female FWFE (121.41mg/dl) was significantly higher (P <0.05) than female SFE (91.36mg/dl). The mean postprandial blood glucose level among female FWFE (196.13mg/dl) were also significantly higher (P <0.05) than female SFE (140.05mg/dl). This study found that people who consume freshwater fish have a higher risk of T2DM than sea fish eaters. However, it remains unclear whether consumption of sea fish itself has a protective effect on T2DM or not we were not able to take a protective lifestyle into account in this study. To gather these findings we have to examine many other aspects.